SFO parking fees going up — and down

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The price of parking at San Francisco International Airport’s most popular garage will be increasing this summer, while decreases are made in other less-filled lots to attract more customers.

Domestic garage rates are rising to a flat daily rate of $33, instead of the current $28 for the first day and $35 for each subsequent day; rates for International Garages A and G are dropping from $22 daily to $20. The long-term garage rates are going up from $12 daily to $13, according to Airport Director John Martin.

These rate hikes are part of a larger summer marketing plan, which SFO spokesman Mike McCarron said will be fully unveiled sometime before Memorial Day, the unofficial kickoff to summer.

The 3,100-space long-term parking lot, which opened last June, is 90 percent full at any given time, McCarron said. With ample demand for the spots in that garage, airport officials were confident that upping the rate from $12 to $13 a day would not decrease the number of parkers. However, the international terminal garages, which longtime parking cashier Lori Heredia estimated held roughly 3,000 cars each, have not had as much business as their counterparts, prompting officials to reduce rates there.

SFO’s upcoming $13 daily rate is still in the lower- to mid-range of long-term parking prices. There are several private long-term lots in cities surrounding the airport, which range anywhere from $7 to $19 daily.

At the end of the summer, airport officials are expected to revisit the new parking fees and determine whether to continue with the cost structure. McCarron expects that revenue generated from the parking lots could increase, but that information will not be tabulated until after this summer’s trial run.

Heredia, who has been working in various parking capacities at the airport for 28 years, thinks the parking rates are too high. She agreed that while people are lining up for the $12 daily rate at the long-term garage, rates at the other garages may be scaring people off.

"It’s ridiculous," Heredia said.

San Francisco resident Philip Abrams, who often parks at the airport to pick up his wife, agrees that parking rates at SFO are too high and the garages themselves are constantly clogged.

Abrams said he has experienced various problems, ranging from tickets stamped too early to too many cars in the lot to expensive rates in the short-term garage.

"If you’re just going in for an hour or two to wait for someone, you have to pay something like $8 bucks," Abrams said. "It seems a little steep."